Olufunmilayo B. Arewa (Philadelphia/Bonn): Technology Disruption, Digital Colonialism and Law in Africa

Abstract

A digital revolution has swept across many countries in Africa in recent years. This influx of new technologies has been to a significant degree disruptive. The list of such technologies might include mobile phones, social media and messaging platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp, Internet and e-commerce applications, peer-to-peer technologies, drones and robots, automation technologies, artificial intelligence, including machine learning, biometric technologies, blockchain and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Many policymakers and commentators implicitly assume that the impact of such new technologies on society will be positive. Although the ultimate effects of new technologies remain uncertain, existing governance practices and institutions in many African countries may start questioning these optimistic assumptions.

The introduction of new technologies draws attention to patterns of lawmaking within Africa, because many current laws and regulations were put in place before the digital revolution – as has also been the case elsewhere in the world. The poor fit of existing laws and regulations for new technologies is an issue of ongoing discussion and contestation globally. In addition to such acknowledged problems, the dissemination of new technologies in Africa may also highlight legal concerns that are less known, at least in many developed countries. This second set of concerns relates to ongoing colonial legacies, which are by no means limited to law. Historical legacies of colonialism raise questions about the influence of external forces in Africa in the digital era and the extent to which technology disruption has come with new patterns of digital colonialism. (Prof. Dr. Olufunmilayo B. Arewa)

Curriculum Vitae

Prof. Dr. Olufunmilayo B. Arewa is holder of the Murray H. Shusterman Professorship of Transactional and Business Law at the Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia, USA. She studied anthropology at Harvard College and the University of California, Berkeley, where she received her doctorate degree in 1986 with a dissertation entitled "Tarzan, Primus inter Primates: Difference and Hierarchy in Popular Culture". In addition, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa holds a master’s degree in Applied Economics from the University of Michigan and a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School. Following her J.D., she was a visiting lecturer at the Center for Afro-American and African Studies (CAAS) at the University of Michigan and a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. She has also served as a Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. and Montevideo, Uruguay. After receiving her J.D., she worked as a lawyer at law firms and companies in Silicon Valley and New York. She also served as Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel of a venture capital firm in Boston. Prior to becoming a Professor of Law at Temple University in Philadelphia in 2018, she worked as an Assistant Professor at the Case School of Law in Cleveland, as an Associate Professor at Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, and a Professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, where she held a courtesy appointment in Anthropology. In 2015, she was a visiting scholar at Humboldt University in Berlin. Furthermore, she has served as a consultant for the World Bank Group and as a Vice-Chairman of the Nigeria Copyright Expert Working Group.

Her research interests include law and culture, music and film, African studies, as well as technology, business and copyright law.

Since May 2019 she has been a Fellow at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg "Recht als Kultur" in Bonn.